UNB, Dhaka :
After scripting a historic win against Pakistan in the previous match, the Bangladesh women’s team sank to a dispiriting defeat in what should have been a cosy win against the West Indies in the ongoing ICC Women’s World Cup.
Bangladesh fell short of only four runs in the game at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on Friday.
In the low-scoring affair, the Bangladesh women’s team bowled tremendously and restricted the West Indies to 140 for nine in 50 overs.
However, with the last three wickets, the Caribbean side managed to score 70 runs which eventually helped them to better Bangladesh in this match.
West Indian wicketkeeper-batter Shemaine Campbelle scored an unbeaten 53 off 107 balls, which was the highest score by any West Indian batsman.
For Bangladesh, Salma Khatun and Nahida Akter bagged two wickets each. Jahanara Alam, Rumana Ahmed and Ritu Moni took one wicket each.
In reply, Bangladesh lost wicketkeeper-batter Shamima Sultana for a duck in the first over of the innings.
However, the next three batters — Sharmin Akter, Fargana Hoque and captain Nigar Sultana — have done well scoring 17, 23 and 25 runs, respectively.
Bangladesh reached 60 losing three wickets. While reaching 100 from 60, Bangladesh lost five more wickets, and that was the point where they slipped from the game.
Rumana and Ritu returned for a duck each, but Salma and Nahida Akter were the last lifelines for Bangladesh women scoring 23 and 25, respectively.
Bangladesh needed eight runs off the last six balls. Off the first ball of the last over, Nahida took a double, and the target came down to six runs in the last five balls. Nahida took a single in the next ball, and off the third ball, the last batter, Fariha Trisna, was bowled by Stafanie Taylor.
Bangladesh ended up on 136 for all wickets in 49.3 overs and lost the match by just four runs.
“It was a very close match. How our bowlers started was incredible. I’m pretty disappointed with our batting. We lacked partnerships and I should have played till the end,” Bangladesh captain Nigar told the broadcaster after the match.
“We have to work on this going forward. We were planning to utilise the conditions and our bowlers managed to do that. We have more games to come and have to take the positives. We lack experience in such situations and if we play more then we will get better,” she added.
